Railway car construction



y 24, 1932- w. P. MURPHY RAILWAY CAR CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Jan. 14, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet n u M m FillllllllliL Inventor.- Wlzer? May 24, 1932. w MURPHY 1,859,339

RAILWAY CAR CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Jan. 14, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 24, 1932 WALTER r. MURPHY, or CHICAGQ, ILLINOIS, AssIGNon arc-Union MErAnrnonucrs.

COMPANEC. or cnrcnearuuors, A. CORPORATION iornnrnwnnn RAInwAYcnR' oonsrnuo'rron Original application filed January 14, 1929, Serial No. 332326; Divided and thisapplication filed September 2,1930; Serial 479,136; l

The device relates'to' railway freightcars,

particularly, to that class of equipment having doors'which are opened or dropped to discharge part or all ofthe ladingl The object of the invention is to provide a spreader or beamfor simultaneous operationof a pair of swingable doors in' a; railway freight car, which spreader is operated by any of the numerous door raising mechanisms now being marketed; A further object of the invention is to provide/such a spreader or'beam with spaced apart portions,

each of which engages one of the swingable doors so as to permit the door to adjust itself to the frame of the door opening'about' a substantially vertical and/or" substantially horizontal axis,- or in fact about anyaxisor axes, substantially parallel to the plane of the body part of the door, or by a Combination of movements, which may be termed .a universa l movement; furthermore, the door may move relative to the door in a plane substantially parallel to the body of the door. Any force applied to the operating mechanism adjacent the middle of the'spread'er is substantially equally distributed to the two doors, and furthermore, the force transmitted to one of the doors by the spreader is substantially equally distributed to the opposite vertical edges or margins of the door; In my construction, if the op'eratingmecha nism closes one door first, the operating mechanism continues functioning until the other door is closed furthermore, if one side of one door reaches closed position first, the operating mechanism continues to operate until the other side of such door' reaches closed position; in'fact, the mechanism operates until all four edges of the two doors reach closed position. a

A further object of the; invention is toreduce the cost and weight of the spreader and car by forming it of a casting so that the metal can be evenly distributed commensurate with the stresses.

"Another object of the invention is to engage the spreader with the'door adjacent a stifiening rib or ribs so thatthe stresses caused by the lifting of the door will not be taken bythe bodyportion of the: door;

A Inthe drawings: or Fig; 1 shows a typical application of' my IIIVBIIfiOII- toa railway car.

Figs. 2 to 9 inclusive show various modified forms of theinvention describedherein.

Fig. 10 shows a partial side elevation of a car. i Fig. 1 shows a typical application of my inventionto' a typical .so-called ",hopper car wherein the l'ower'portion of the car on each side ofthe center sills'2 or center ridge is formedointo' a hopper, each'hopper being provided; with a swingable door 3. These doors are connected for-simultaneous opera.- tion by a spreader 4: operated by a mechanism'connected'to the middle portion thereof I andpositioned between the center sills and under the ridge for 1' protection from the ladin'g. and provided with a shaft extending toopposite sides of the car for operation by awheel or wrench; There are numerous types of hopper dump cars in service on the railways with the hopper so positioned as to discharge the load between the rails and some designedzto dischargethe loadoutside of thera ilst There areal'so du'mpcars used in the coke service having a floor sloping toward oneside of the car with the side wall comprising a "plurality of swingable doors to discharge the" coke all on one side of the car. -My invention is adaptable to any one of the above described cars, or in fact,to any car having two or more. doors simultaneously closed by a single operative mechanism.

In: Figs; 2' and 3 each end of the spreader is formed of U-shaped construction 48 and overlaps the reinforcing central web 49 of the door and is secured thereto by the bolt 50; The inner portion 51 and side portions 52 of the terminal U construction of the spreader are preferably'formed on arcs, so that the door -may rook vertically and/or horizontally upon the spreader or vice ve'rsa.

Figs. 4 to 7 inclusive show a construction wherein the spreader55 is connected to each door. The spreader and the doors may be provided with semi-spherical engaging surfaces 56-57 so that the door is freeto' slide upon the spreader toaccommodate the inequalities-of the car. The door is provided :sis

' the lips faces 63-64 so as to permit universal move-.

ment between the spreader andeach of the doors. The spreader in the form illustrated is provided with a mushroom projection 65 and the doors are provided with flanges or lips 66 which engage the underside of the mushoom proj ection,'but the lips only extend for part of the circumference of the semi-v spherical bearing surface on the door and portions by inserting the mushroom under and thenrevolving the door a few degrees, after which thedoors are assembled on the car and the hinge pins put in place. In this construction the spreader'cannot become disengaged fromeither of the doors until the hinge pins of one of the doors have been removed. In'thisconstruction the door may move relative to the spreader in a plane substantially parallel to the body portion of spreader the door; also about an axis normal to the body portion of the door, which movement permits the spreaders to adjust themselves to the doors without any binding as the doors adjust themselves to the frames of the door openings. 7 1

' In some cars the spreaders are extended to engage locking mechanismssupportedby and secured to the side of the car. A common form of locking mechanism comprises a hook T 7 Owhich falls into place by gravity,,,and en 1 nisms.

gages the extremities 71 of the spreader,which hook is held in place by a locking cam 7 2. In some cars these outside looking mechanisms constitute the only means of holding the spreader and the doors in closed position. When it is desired to use such a locking mechanism I extend my spreaders so that their extremities may engage such locking mecha- The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the-invention, though it is to. be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, withinthe scope of-the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

This is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 332,326, filed January 14,

I claim:

' 1. In a railway car, a pair of hinged dumping doors, an equalizing spreader having of thehead of the mushroom are cut away so that thedoor is connected to the spaced apart portions, each engaging one of said doors adjacent its vertical medial line so as to permit universal movement between the door and the spreader, means to retain the spreader in operative relation to the door, and a door operating mechanism attached to said spreader adjacent the center thereof.

2. In a railwaycar, a pair of hinged dump-L ing doors and a'spreader'having spaced apart portions,each connected to one of said doors so as to permit universal movement between the door and the spreader.

- 3. In a railway car, apair of hinged dumping doors, each provided with a semi-spherical bearing, and a spreader having spaced apartsemi-spherical journals engaging sai bearing so as to permit-universal movement between the door .and the spreader.

4. In a railway car, a pair of hinged dumping doors, each having a body part provided with a reinforcing web, a spreader having spaced apart U-shaped portions, each straddling the reinforcingweb of one of said doors, the inner and side engaging surfaces of said portions being formed on arcs so that the door may rock vertically and/or tally upon thev spreader, and means to retain the portions in operative engagementv with the-web.

5. In arailway car, a pair'of hinged dump: ing doors, each having a body part provided with areinforcing web, and a spreader having spaced apart U-shaped portions, each straddling the reinforcing web of one of said doors and pivotally secured thereto, the inner and side engaging surfaces of said portions being formed on arcs so that the door; may rock vertically and/or horizontally upon the spreader. I

- 6. In a railway car, a pair of hinged dumpingdoors and a spreader having spaced apart portions, each connected to one of said doors horizon so as to permitv movement betweenthe door 7 and the spreader about any one of several axes substantially parallel to the plane of the bodyv part of the door. 7 In a railway car, a pair ing doors, eachprovided with a pintle having a semi-spherical bearing, and a spreader having spaced apart semi-spherical journals engaging said bearings so as topermit movement between the door and the spreader about any one of several axes substantially parallel tothe plane of the body part of the cor. Y

8. In a railway car, a pair of hinged dumping doors, and a spreader having spaced apart portions, each connected to one of said doors so as to permit movement between the door and the spreader about any one of several axes substantially parallel to the plane of'hinged dumpof the body part of the door and also 1n a a pair of hinged ,1 

